Composite cards

ABSTRACT

A precious metal foil composite comprising a precious metal foil encased, by lamination, in a transparent polymeric sheet material. The composite cards produced from this composite material are used for practical purposes by encasing the above composite together with another component having opaque decorative patterns, and finally encasing the entire assembly in a secondary hard protective covering to provide the outermost protection.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/863,754, filed Apr. 6,1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,482 which was a divisional of Ser. No.07/614,116 filed Nov. 16, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,589, which was aCIP of Ser. No. 07/536,996 filed Jun. 13, 1990 now abandoned, which wasa continuation of Ser. No. 07/219,263 filed Jul. 15, 1988 now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a composite card, which is attractive,valuable and convenient as gifts and souvenirs; furthermore, saidcomposite card has considerable appeal as decorative gifts, because saidcard is made from one of a groups of precious metals consisting of gold,silver or platinum and the like.

BACKGROUND ART

Reproduction of impressions by means of stamping with metal diesequipped with suitable impressions, or embossing, has been widelypractised for gold coins and commemorative medals.

In recent years, the public has shown interest in purchasinggram-quantities of gold, which created a new market in precious metalgifts and souvenirs. However, the traditional embossing techniquesapplicable to coins and medals are not suitable for thin strip or sheetmaterials, typical of the new market, and the products produced by suchtechniques generally lacked aesthetic appeal as gifts and souvenirs.

Therefore, it would be of great interest to be able to emboss by rollforming appropriate impressions on the surface of thinly-rolled stripmaterials. For example, a one gram piece of gold can be rolled into anattractive foil material of 20 micrometers thickness which is acandidate material for such roll-embossing operations.

However, such embossing/marking operations are difficult to perform onsuch thin materials, because they lack mechanical strength, and easilysuffer from mechanical damages during production and handlingoperations.

Furthermore, gifts and medallions are usually custom made for a largenumber of small-lot customers, and the high cost of metal dies makes ituneconomical to produce such items by roll-embossing.

In such instances, a composite material, consisting of a precious metalfoil backing and a separate transparent acrylic plate having suitablepreset patterns or designs, may provide an attractive alternativeproduction method to roll-forming or stamping operations.

In this case, the precious metal foil can be mass produced while variousdecorative plate having preset custom markings can be produced in smalllot quantities. The difficulties of handling thin foil materials remainas well as the difficulties associated with processing a compositeassembly, however.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a decorative precious metal composite card;which can be manufactured from a small quantity of precious metals;which are not susceptible to manufacturing damages; and which permitseconomical production of a large variety of small lot quantities.

According to this invention, a composite core material is made bylaminating transparent protective layers of polymeric material on bothsides of a plain metal foil material made from a group of preciousmetals consisting of unalloyed and alloyed precious metals.

The above composite core material is assembled to another transparentsheet material with opaque markings, said sheet material, hereinafterreferred to as a decorative component, having mostly transparent areasand suitably marked opaque regions. Said assembled material is furtherencased in a transparent polymeric material to provide overallprotection on both sides of the said composite, thereby producingdurable, attractive precious metal composite cards suitable for giftsand souvenirs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a composite card described in a firstpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an oblique view of a precious metal foil laminated with aprimary protective covering.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the composite core material.

FIG. 4 is an oblique view of a second preferred embodiment of thecomposite card.

FIG. 5 provides explanations of composite card manufacturing steps.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a strip of said cards.

FIG. 7 is an oblique view of a third preferred embodiment of compositematerial.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of above embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a decorative component.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a second protective covering on saidcomposite card.

FIG. 11 is an oblique view of a fourth preferred embodiment of thecomposite card.

FIG. 12 is a view of an assembled sample.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of above embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an oblique view of a magnetic composite card.

FIG. 15 is an oblique view of a magnetic tape composite card.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENTINVENTION

FIGS. 1 to 3 relate to a first preferred embodiment of this invention. Athin gold foil material shown in this preferred embodiment was made froma 99.999% pure gold ingot by repeated rolling operations to produce foilmaterials of about 0.005 mm to 0.3 mm thickness. Said foil material waslater cut into a suitably sized rectangular pieces.

The weight and purity information were engraved on the surface of thegold foil by a YAG laser, in this preferred embodiment, which created aseries of fine grooves having a depth of approximately 1/10 of thethickness of the metal foil.

The information, engraved on the metal foil at the conclusion of thefoil rolling operation, was for indicating the quality of the metal foilmaterial, including such information as the trade mark of a supplier ofthe precious metal, and were not for the purpose of showing informationrequested by the customer.

It should be noted that the shape of the composite core material is notrestricted to rectangles only, nor is the material of constructionlimited to gold; silver, platinum and the like are also applicable.

As shown in FIG. 2, said foil material 1 was laminated with transparentpolymeric sheet materials, having a size slightly larger than the foilmaterial 1 itself (in this case about 1 mm larger in all directions).This laminated covering was denoted as the primary protective covering4. When the edges of the sheet material were sealed, the metal foilbecame laminated inside the envelope, thereby producing a composite core5. The primary protective covering 4 was, in fact, composed of a doublelayer, as shown in FIG. 3. The outer layer 4a, of 100 micrometerthickness, was made from a PET (polyethylene telephthalate) which ismechanically strong. The inner layer 4b, of 50 micrometer thickness, wasmade from an ionomer resin (Trade Name Surlyn, manufactured and sold byDu Pont) which can be applied at relatively low temperatures. Byutilizing a polymer of a relatively low softening temperature for theinside lamination of a double lamination procedure, it was possible toprevent overall distortion of the primary protective covering 4 duringthe laminating operation.

The composite core 5 thus formed was both durable and easy to handle,even though the foil material, formed from a small lump of gold weighingonly about several grams, itself was fragile. The composite core wasvisually attractive because of its relatively large area and wassuitable for quality gifts and souvenirs.

FIG. 4 shows a second preferred embodiment of this invention. Acomposite core strip 7 shown here had basically the same double layerconstruction of the primary protective covering 8 as was shown in thefirst preferred embodiment, consisting of a central metal foil laminatedwith transparent polymeric materials having the same size and areameasurements. Such a composite core strip 7 has an additional advantagethat it can be mass produced while providing the same degree ofprotection as the composite core 5 shown in the first preferredembodiment, above.

A method of mass producing such a composite core strip 7 is explainedwith reference to FIG. 5. A metal foil strip 10 (of 15 micrometerthickness) was taken off a roll 11 to be laminated with a double-layerpolymer strip 12, consisting of a PET and a Surlyn, wound on a spool 13.The two materials, metal foil strip 10 and a polymer strip 12 werethermally bonded in a pair of pressing rolls 15 subsequent to passingthrough a preheater rolls 14, so as to form a triple-layered compositecore strip material 16. A large quantity of said composite core strip 7was produced by stamping out the required area in succession from acenter section of the composite strip 7. The clean edges of this type ofcomposite core are advantageous when laminated with transparent outerprotectors, as will be explained later. The laminates were notsusceptible to delamination because of the sealing provided by Surlyn.

The preferred embodiments described above are intended primarily toprovide transparent blank materials for manufacturing of composite cardsin conjunction with decorative components. However, the core materialscan also be used for decorative purposes by embossing directly on theprotective surfaces. The markings can be placed on such cards in thesame way as in the case of separate protective coverings, but thedurability is better if the markings are placed on the inside surface ofthe outer laminate. To place markings on the card shown in the preferredembodiment in FIG. 4, it would be convenient to place regularly spacedmarkings on the polymer strip 12, shown in FIG. 5, to guide separationinto individual cards along the markings, such as those shown in FIG. 6.

A third preferred embodiment is shown in FIGS. 7 to 10. The pictorialcomposite cards shown in these figures were produced by combiningtransparent decorative component 20 (to be explained next) with saidcomposite core 5 (a material having no or very little decorativecharacter), and encasing the whole combination in a secondary protectivecovering 21.

Said decorative component 20 comprises opaque pictorial design element22 (hereinafter referred to as pictorial element 22), superimposed on atransparent plate made of such plastic materials as acrylic and glass.The material of construction of decorative component 20 need notnecessarily be a stiff material, but softness and thickness can beadjusted according to applications. The pictorial patterns can be placedon the decorative component 20 by any suitable means or combination ofmeans, such as painting, engraving and etching, and the like. The opaqueparts can serve either as a pictorial element 22 or as a backgroundelement. The pictorial portions can be cut out also to expose the metalbackground. The contents of the pictorial element 22 to be placed on thedecorative component 20 are not limited. For wedding announcements, forexample, the names to be shown may vary from case to case, but in otherapplications such as business cards, commemorative medals, andreproductions of famous art and designs, repetitive patterns may berequired. Other reproductive techniques, such as photocopying, thermalprinting, laser copying and photo-reproduction, are also applicabletechniques.

As shown in FIG. 10, the secondary protective covering 21 comprised atriple structure: an outermost layer 21a, of 10 micrometer thickness,which was made of acrylic to utilize its high surface hardness; a middlelayer 21b, of 50 micrometer thickness, which was made of athermoplastic, PET, to utilize its mechanical strength; and the insidelayer 21c, of 50 micrometer thickness, which was made of a thermoplasticresin, Surlyn, to enable bonding of the composite core 5 to saidtransparent decorative component 20 at relatively low temperatures. Thetriple structure of said secondary protective covering permitsdistortion-free bonding of the protective layer on the composite core 5and permits production of durable, attractive cards made possible by along term protection of the surfaces by durable transparent acryliccovering.

The composite core 5 is protected from bending and other damages whichmay occur during handling and transportation, because of the reinforcingaction of the decorative component 20; therefore, this productiontechnique minimizes the occurrence of losses due to damaged goods.Furthermore, the composite core 5 is further protected and secured bythe secondary laminations 21, thus providing additional means forpreserving the original appearance of the composite card by preventingrelative shifting of the precious metal foil 1 with respect to thedecorative component 20, and by preventing wrinkling of the foil andother mechanical damages as well as soiling of the surfaces. Thesuperior appearance of the composite card is a further result of thefact that, because the metal foil 1 is protected with the primaryprotective covering 4, light is diffracted at the interfaces, therebyeliminating the transparency of the foil material 1 and providing anappearance and a color tone of the solid precious metal. For the samereasons, the pictorial elements 22 on the decorative component 20 do notappear transparent.

The third preferred embodiment described a case of superimposingdecorative component 20 on top of the composite core 5, but it should benoted that volume production of composite cards is possible by utilizingthe decorative component 20 with the thin composite core strip 7 citedin the second preferred embodiment above.

The fourth preferred embodiment of the preferred embodiments is shown inFIGS. 11 and 12. This is a case in which the composite core 5 wascontained in a pair of transparent decorative plates 20a and 20b, andwhich assembly was then encased in the secondary protective covering 21.

The information to be exhibited was placed on the decorative plates 20aand 20b, and there was little need for using the composite core 5 forthis purpose. The materials of construction of 20a and 20b can be thesame as described previously.

The example above is particularly useful in cases wherein the preciousmetal foil 1 is made of a very thin foil material.

In the third and fourth preferred embodiments described above, the corecomponents, the composite core 5 and composite core strip 7, can bereused repeatedly, in combination with new decorative components havingdifferent patterns and designs, thus permitting economical productionsof a variety of small volume custom products. The precious metal corecan be made convertible to currency by declaring appropriateinformation, such as a trade mark and purity to indicate the quality ofthe core, on the foil itself.

A fifth preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 14, an example of a cardwhich serves decorative and functional purposes. Said card comprisesopaque pictorial element 22 (described in the preferred embodiment 2)and a magnetic layer 23, having a magnetic layer of thickness of about 4to 6 micrometer made of a magnetic material, such as ferrites. Thesecards are useful for the production of prepaid cards and other portablecards for identification purposes. In these cases, it is desirable toplace the information on the primary covering 8.

A sixth preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 15 describes an applicationof a composite card case cited in the third preferred embodiment incombination with a magnetic tape 23a. This type of cards 24 is usefulfor the production of cash cards and other banking cards.

We claim:
 1. A precious metal composite comprising:a precious metalmember defining a substantially planar plate element having first andsecond planar surfaces and an outer periphery; a first plate elementhaving a pictorial pattern on a surface thereof mounted in side-by-side,parallel-facing relation to said first planar surface; and a coverelement made from a polymeric material encapsulating the combination ofsaid first plate element and said substantially planar plate element;wherein said outer periphery of said substantially planar plate elementis surrounded by said cover element.
 2. A precious metal composite as inclaim 1, further comprising a second plate element having a pictorialpattern on at least one surface thereof, said second plate element beingmounted in side-by-side, parallel-facing relation to said second planarsurface, the combination of said first and second plate elements andsaid substantially planar plate element being encapsulated in said coverelement.
 3. A precious metal composite as in claim 1, wherein said firstplate element is of a size and shape substantially equal to a size andshape of said substantially planar element.
 4. A precious metalcomposite as in claim 1, wherein said first plate element is transparentand at least a portion of said pictorial pattern is opaque.
 5. Aprecious metal composite as in claim 1, wherein said first plate elementis formed from acrylic.
 6. A precious metal composite as in claim 1,wherein said metal element is formed from a metal selected from thegroup consisting of gold, silver, platinum, and gold alloys.
 7. Aprecious metal composite as in claim 1, wherein the combination of saidfirst plate element and said substantially planar element are laminatedbetween two sheets of polymeric material.